Alabama football's payout to nonconference opponents is on the up-and-up

Alabama head coach Nick Saban poses with the National Championship Trophy in Atlanta, Ga., on Tuesday January 9, 2018, during a press conference the day after winning the College Football Playoff National Championship.

TUSCALOOSA — Alabama’s nonconference football schedule for the next decade is starting to take shape after the Crimson Tide recently finalized game contracts with four future opponents.

And it didn’t come cheap.

The Crimson Tide will pay a combined $6.71 million for a quartet of home nonconference games scheduled between 2021-2029 after agreeing to host Southern Miss, Utah State and Western Kentucky for an average of $1.9 million between 2021-2023, according to game contracts obtained through an open-records request.

Alabama also finalized a highly anticipated home-and-home series against Notre Dame for 2028-2029, with each home team paying the visitor $1 million.

The Crimson Tide will open up the checkbook after contractually agreeing to pay $1.9 million for home games against Southern Miss on Sept. 25, 2021 and Western Kentucky on Sept. 9, 2023, as well as a $1.91 million fee to Utah State for a game on Sept. 3, 2022 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The guaranteed $1.91 million price tag is the most Alabama has ever paid to a visiting opponent, and is believed to be the fourth-highest amount paid by a Power 5 program for such a game.

The statue of Bear Bryant stands in front of Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, October 22, 2016.

The Tide’s previous high was the $1.85 million payout to Southern Miss for a Sept. 21, 2019 matchup, followed by $1.75 million for a Sept. 26, 2020 game against Kent State. Alabama is also obligated to pay $1.7 million for home games against Arkansas State this Sept. 8 and New Mexico State in 2019.

Of course, the sub-$2 million fee actually falls in line with the rising cost of SEC powerhouses scheduling games against Group of Five opponents, including the $1.9 million Auburn is paying UMass for a pre-Iron Bowl home game Nov. 14, 2020, and the $1.9 million Georgia is paying Kent State for a 2022 home game in Athens, Georgia.

The largest payout to a non-conference opponent came in 2013 when Nebraska shelled out $2.125 million to have the Golden Eagles move a contest originally scheduled for Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to Lincoln, Nebraska, according to a report by FBSchedules.com.

Florida is also contractually obligated to pay Colorado State $2 million for their game this Sept. 15 in Gainesville, Florida, as part of the record $7 million buyout settlement when the Gators hired Jim McElwain from CSU in late 2014.

Coincidentally, the former Alabama offensive coordinator won’t be in attendance. Florida fired McElwain late last season.

As part of its home-and-home contract with Notre Dame — in which the Crimson Tide open the 2028 season in South Bend, Indiana, on Sept. 2, 2028, and the Fighting Irish make the return trip to Tuscaloosa on Sept. 1, 2029 — both teams have the ability to cancel the series. It requires written notice prior to Jan. 1, 2020, though it could come at a cost. If either side submits a notice of cancellation within “one year or less” from the scheduled date of the cancelled game, it could mean a payment of as much as $3 million.

Of course, given the decade between the contract being finalized and the first scheduled game, one valid reason for canceling the home-and-home series includes if either team is forced to play any additional conference games than currently required.

In Alabama's case, that includes if the SEC goes to a nine-game conference slate at any point in the next 10 years, or, in Notre Dame's case, if it elects to join the ACC in football full-time.

Along with the visitor receiving a $1 million payment, the game contract stipulates Alabama will use SEC officials for its 2029 game while Notre Dame has the ability to designate officials from the conference of its choosing in 2028.

Alabama’s 2021 contest against Southern Miss is just its second trip to Tuscaloosa since coach Nick Saban was hired in 2007, after the Golden Eagles made annual visits to either Bryant-Denny Stadium or Legion Field in Birmingham between 1992-2005.

The Tide has dominated its all-time series with Southern Miss, including a 52-12 drubbing in 2014, and has won the last six straight in the series, including a later-vacated 2005 game.

Utah State has made two previous visits to Tuscaloosa between 2004-05, during which the Aggies were outscored 83-20 in those two losses, though the 2005 contest was later vacated by the NCAA.

While the contract between Alabama and Western Kentucky stipulates the date of the game as Sept. 9, 2023, the Hilltoppers announced the date for Sept. 16, 2023 in a release Thursday that also included a 2021 matchup with Michigan State. Regardless of the date, the Crimson Tide is 3-0 all-time against Western Kentucky, having outscored the Hilltoppers 114-17 in previous visits to Tuscaloosa in 2008, 2012 and 2016.